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Women's World Golf Rankings

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The Women's World Golf Rankings, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Rolex Rankings, were introduced in February 2006. They are sanctioned by 12 women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA Tour), Ladies European Tour, Ladies Professional Golfers' Association of Japan (LPGA of Japan Tour), Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA of Korea Tour), WPGA Tour of Australasia, Epson Tour, China Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour, the Ladies European Tour Access Series, Taiwan LPGA Tour, JLPGA Step Up Tour (JSU), KLPGA Dream Tour (KDT), and Thai LPGA Tour and also by The R&A, which administers the Women's British Open and the United States Golf Association which conducts the U.S. Women's Open.

The idea of introducing a set of women's rankings similar to the Official World Golf Ranking was developed at the May 2004 World Congress of Women's Golf, and was first planned for 2005,[1] but then put back to 2006.

Calculation of the rankings

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The rankings are based on performances on the eight major tours (LPGA, JLPGA, KLPGA, LET, ALPG, Epson Tour, LETAS, CLPGA) over a two-year period. Amateur players are eligible. The system for calculating the rankings is similar to that for the men's Official World Golf Ranking. Players receive points for each good finish on the relevant tours, with the number of points available in each event depending on the strength of the field, as determined by the competitors' existing rankings (when the rankings were introduced rankings were calculated for earlier periods; the first ever set showed notional changes since the previous week). The only exceptions are the five LPGA majors and all Epson Tour, CLPGA and LETAS events which have a fixed-point allocation, presently 100 points for the majors. Rankings are weighted as to the time elapsed over the two years, making the recent results more important.

Original formula

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When the rankings were first introduced in February 2006, a player's ranking as calculated in the above description was divided by the number of events played, with a minimum required events of 15 over the previous two years. In addition, players were required to play in a minimum of 15 eligible events over the previous two-year period to be included in the rankings.

Formula revisions

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On August 2, 2006, the Rolex Rankings Board and Technical Committee announced following its bi-annual meeting two changes to the ranking formula.[2]

  1. The elimination of the minimum event requirement. Players would no longer be required to participate in 15 qualifying events to be included in the rankings and could be included after playing in as few as one qualifying event. This change would also have the effect of permitting amateurs who had played well in one event to be ranked (e.g., Morgan Pressel, who finished second in the 2005 U.S. Women's Open, or Michelle Wie from age 13).
  2. The introduction of a minimum divisor. Where previously a player's point total was divided by the number of events she played over the previous 104 weeks, now the player's point total would be divided by the greater of (i) the number of events played or (ii) 35. Thus, players with 35 or more events over the previous 104 weeks would continue to use the actual number of events played as the divisor, but players with fewer than 35 events would use 35 as the divisor.

Many commentators saw the latter change as directed at Michelle Wie, who at the time was ranked second in the world despite having competed in only 16 women's professional events in the two-year period. However, the chairman of the Rolex Rankings Technical Committee defended the change as one designed to make the women's rankings more comparable to the Official World Golf Ranking for men, which use a minimum divisor of 40 events.

On April 16, 2007, another modification in the formula was introduced. Instead of points being awarded on an accumulated 104-week rolling period, with the points awarded in the most recent 13-week period carrying a higher value, points began to be reduced in 91 equal decrements following week 13 for the remaining 91 weeks of the two-year Rolex Ranking period rather than the seven equal 13-week decrements previously used.[3] This modification did not have an immediate impact on the rankings.

Criticisms

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When they were introduced the rankings attracted considerable criticism on two grounds.[4] First, it was widely felt that members of the LPGA of Japan Tour were ranked too high, since few of them had competed successfully outside Japan. Second, the minimum of 15 events needed to qualify for a ranking was widely seen as having been selected purely to enable Michelle Wie to be highly ranked because she had played exactly that number in the preceding two years, while every other highly ranked player had played many more events. If the women's rankings used the same system used for the men's rankings – that is a minimum number of events of one but a minimum denominator of 40 to calculate the average points per tournament – Wie would have been just outside the top 10. But under the women's ranking system where only players who had played a minimum number of events were included, if the minimum number of events had been set higher than 15, Wie would not have been ranked at all.

The August 2006 revised formula addressed the second criticism. The technical committee that administers the rankings urged patience with regard to the first criticism, since the continuing "strength of the field" weighting of tournaments may correct the issue without any technical changes being made.

Significance of the rankings

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The rankings are used by each of the sponsoring tours to determine eligibility criteria for certain events. For example, 40 of the 144 places in the Women's British Open are currently awarded on the basis of the rankings—10 to LET members and 30 to LPGA members.[5] Four of the 12 places in the European Solheim Cup team are allocated on the basis of the rankings.[6] For the U.S. Solheim Cup team, the top two players on the rankings not already qualified make the team.[7]

Since 2013, the rankings at the end of each LPGA Tour season in odd-numbered years have determined the eight countries that will compete in the following year's International Crown, a LPGA-sponsored team event scheduled in even-numbered years and first held in 2014. More specifically, the countries whose top four players have the highest cumulative rankings are invited to compete.[8] The individual participants from each qualified country are determined by the rankings immediately prior to the ANA Inspiration (known before 2015 as the Kraft Nabisco Championship) in the year of the event.[9]

Current top ten

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As of 18 November 2024[10]
Rank Change Player Country Points
1 Steady Nelly Korda  United States 13.53
2 Increase1 Lilia Vu  United States 7.11
3 Decrease1 Yin Ruoning  China 7.09
4 Steady Lydia Ko  New Zealand 6.84
5 Steady Hannah Green  Australia 5.79
6 Steady Ryu Hae-ran  South Korea 5.41
7 Steady Atthaya Thitikul  Thailand 5.28
8 Steady Céline Boutier  France 5.19
9 Increase1 Ko Jin-young  South Korea 4.99
10 Decrease1 Ayaka Furue  Japan 4.98

Change column indicates change in rank from previous week.

Notes

  • On 12 January 2009, Annika Sörenstam, who was ranked No. 3 the previous week despite having announced her retirement effective at the end of the 2008 season, was removed from the rankings. No official explanation was given for her removal. Sörenstam later posted in her personal blog that she asked to be removed.[11]
  • On 10 May 2010, one week after announcing that she was retiring from golf, Lorena Ochoa also voluntarily removed herself from the rankings. Her last position in the rankings was No. 2 for the week of 3 May 2010.[12]

World number ones

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^ Record
* Current No. 1 player as of 18 November 2024[10]
No. Player Country Start date End date Weeks Total weeks
1 Annika Sörenstam  Sweden 21 February 2006 22 April 2007 60 60
2 Lorena Ochoa  Mexico 23 April 2007 2 May 2010 158^ 158
3 Jiyai Shin  South Korea 3 May 2010 20 June 2010 7 7
4 Ai Miyazato  Japan 21 June 2010 27 June 2010 1 1
5 Cristie Kerr  United States 28 June 2010 18 July 2010 3 3
Ai Miyazato (2)  Japan 19 July 2010 25 July 2010 1 2
Jiyai Shin (2)  South Korea 26 July 2010 15 August 2010 3 10
Cristie Kerr (2)  United States 16 August 2010 22 August 2010 1 4
Ai Miyazato (3)  Japan 23 August 2010 24 October 2010 9 11
Cristie Kerr (3)  United States 25 October 2010 31 October 2010 1 5
Jiyai Shin (3)  South Korea 1 November 2010 13 February 2011 15 25
6 Yani Tseng  Chinese Taipei 14 February 2011 17 March 2013 109 109
7 Stacy Lewis  United States 18 March 2013 14 April 2013 4 4
8 Inbee Park  South Korea 15 April 2013 1 June 2014 59 59
Stacy Lewis (2)  United States 2 June 2014 26 October 2014 21 25
Inbee Park (2)  South Korea 27 October 2014 1 February 2015 14 73
9 Lydia Ko  New Zealand 2 February 2015 14 June 2015 19 19
Inbee Park (3)  South Korea 15 June 2015 25 October 2015 19 92
Lydia Ko (2)  New Zealand 26 October 2015 11 June 2017 85 104
10 Ariya Jutanugarn  Thailand 12 June 2017 25 June 2017 2 2
11 Ryu So-yeon  South Korea 26 June 2017 5 November 2017 19 19
12 Park Sung-hyun  South Korea 6 November 2017 12 November 2017 1 1
13 Shanshan Feng  China 13 November 2017 22 April 2018 23 23
Inbee Park (4)  South Korea 23 April 2018 29 July 2018 14 106
Ariya Jutanugarn (2)  Thailand 30 July 2018 19 August 2018 3 5
Park Sung-hyun (2)  South Korea 20 August 2018 28 October 2018 10 11
Ariya Jutanugarn (3)  Thailand 29 October 2018 3 March 2019 18 23
Park Sung-hyun (3)  South Korea 4 March 2019 7 April 2019 5 16
14 Ko Jin-young  South Korea 8 April 2019 30 June 2019 12 12
Park Sung-hyun (4)  South Korea 1 July 2019 28 July 2019 4 20
Ko Jin-young (2)  South Korea 29 July 2019 27 June 2021 100 112[a]
15 Nelly Korda  United States 28 June 2021 24 October 2021 17 17
Ko Jin-young (3)  South Korea 25 October 2021 7 November 2021 2 114
Nelly Korda (2)  United States 8 November 2021 30 January 2022 12 29
Ko Jin-young (4)  South Korea 31 January 2022 30 October 2022 39 154
16 Atthaya Thitikul  Thailand 31 October 2022 13 November 2022 2 2
Nelly Korda (3)  United States 14 November 2022 27 November 2022 2 31
Lydia Ko (3)  New Zealand 28 November 2022 23 April 2023 21 125
Nelly Korda (4)  United States 24 April 2023 21 May 2023 4 35
Ko Jin-young (5)  South Korea 22 May 2023 30 July 2023 7 163^
Nelly Korda (5)  United States 31 July 2023 13 August 2023 2 37
17 Lilia Vu  United States 14 August 2023 10 September 2023 4 4
18 Yin Ruoning  China 11 September 2023 24 September 2023 2 2
Lilia Vu (2)  United States 25 September 2023 29 October 2023 5 9
Yin Ruoning (2)  China 30 October 2023 12 November 2023 2 4
Lilia Vu (3)  United States 13 November 2023 24 March 2024 19 28
Nelly Korda* (6)  United States 25 March 2024 Present 35 72
  1. ^ The rankings were frozen due to the COVID-19 pandemic from 16 March 2020 to 18 May 2020. (8 weeks)

Total weeks at No. 1

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* Current No. 1 player as of 18 November 2024[10]
Rank Player Country Weeks Order Majors
1 Ko Jin-young  South Korea 163[a] 14 2
2 Lorena Ochoa  Mexico 158 2 2
3 Lydia Ko  New Zealand 125 9 3
4 Yani Tseng  Chinese Taipei 109 6 5
5 Inbee Park  South Korea 106 8 7
6 Nelly Korda*  United States 72 15 2
7 Annika Sörenstam  Sweden 60 1 10
8 Lilia Vu  United States 28 17 2
9 Jiyai Shin  South Korea 25 3 2
Stacy Lewis  United States 7 2
11 Shanshan Feng  China 23 13 1
Ariya Jutanugarn  Thailand 10 2
13 Park Sung-hyun  South Korea 20 12 2
14 Ryu So-yeon  South Korea 19 11 2
15 Ai Miyazato  Japan 11 4 0
16 Cristie Kerr  United States 5 5 2
17 Yin Ruoning  China 4 18 1
18 Atthaya Thitikul  Thailand 2 16 0
  1. ^ The rankings were frozen due to the COVID-19 pandemic from 16 March 2020 to 18 May 2020. (8 weeks)

Year end No. 1

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* No. 1 player all year
Year Player Country
2006 Annika Sörenstam  Sweden
2007 Lorena Ochoa  Mexico
2008 Lorena Ochoa* (2)  Mexico
2009 Lorena Ochoa* (3)  Mexico
2010 Jiyai Shin  South Korea
2011 Yani Tseng  Chinese Taipei
2012 Yani Tseng* (2)  Chinese Taipei
2013 Inbee Park  South Korea
2014 Inbee Park (2)  South Korea
2015 Lydia Ko  New Zealand
2016 Lydia Ko* (2)  New Zealand
2017 Shanshan Feng  China
2018 Ariya Jutanugarn  Thailand
2019 Ko Jin-young  South Korea
2020 Ko Jin-young* (2)  South Korea
2021 Nelly Korda  United States
2022 Lydia Ko (3)  New Zealand
2023 Lilia Vu  United States

Weeks at No. 1 by country

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* Country with the current number one player as of 18 November 2024
Rank Country No. of
players 		No. of
weeks 		Players
1  South Korea 5 333[a] Jiyai Shin, Inbee Park, Ryu So-yeon, Park Sung-hyun, Ko Jin-young
2  Mexico 1 158 Lorena Ochoa
3  United States* 4 130 Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis, Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu
4  New Zealand 1 125 Lydia Ko
5  Chinese Taipei 1 109 Yani Tseng
6  Sweden 1 60 Annika Sörenstam
7  China 2 27 Shanshan Feng, Yin Ruoning
8  Thailand 2 25 Ariya Jutanugarn, Atthaya Thitikul
9  Japan 1 11 Ai Miyazato
  1. ^ The rankings were frozen due to the COVID-19 pandemic from 16 March 2020 to 18 May 2020. (8 weeks)

Players who have reached No. 1 without having won a major title

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Players Date of first No. 1 position Eventual first major title
Lorena Ochoa 23 April 2007 2007 Women's British Open
Ai Miyazato 21 June 2010 none
Lydia Ko 2 February 2015 2015 Evian Championship
Atthaya Thitikul 31 October 2022 none

Year-end world top 10 players

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★ indicates player's highest year-end ranking
Year No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 No. 5 No. 6 No. 7 No. 8 No. 9 No. 10
2006 Sweden A. Sörenstam★ Mexico L. Ochoa Australia K. Webb United States C. Kerr United States J. Inkster★ Japan A. Miyazato★ South Korea J. Jang★ United States P. Creamer Japan S. Oyama★ United States P. Hurst★
2007 Mexico L. Ochoa★ Australia K. Webb★ Norway S. Pettersen Sweden A. Sörenstam United States P. Creamer United States C. Kerr South Korea J. Shin United States J. Inkster South Korea M.H. Kim★ South Korea S.R. Pak★
2008 Mexico L. Ochoa Chinese Taipei Y. Tseng Sweden A. Sörenstam United States P. Creamer★ Norway S. Pettersen South Korea J. Shin United States C. Kerr Sweden H. Alfredsson★ United States A. Stanford★ Australia K. Webb
2009 Mexico L. Ochoa South Korea J. Shin Norway S. Pettersen United States C. Kerr Chinese Taipei Y. Tseng Sweden A. Nordqvist★ United States P. Creamer Japan A. Miyazato United States A. Stanford United States M. Wie
2010 South Korea J. Shin★ United States C. Kerr★ Norway S. Pettersen South Korea N.Y. Choi Chinese Taipei Y. Tseng Japan A. Miyazato South Korea I.K. Kim★ South Korea S.J. Ahn South Korea S.H. Kim★ United States M. Wie
2011 Chinese Taipei Y. Tseng★ Norway S. Pettersen★ South Korea N.Y. Choi United States C. Kerr United States P. Creamer South Korea S.J. Ahn★ South Korea J. Shin South Korea I.K. Kim Japan A. Miyazato United States S. Lewis
2012 Chinese Taipei Y. Tseng South Korea N.Y. Choi★ United States S. Lewis★ South Korea I. Park China S. Feng Norway S. Pettersen South Korea S.Y. Ryu South Korea J. Shin Japan A. Miyazato Japan M. Miyazato★
2013 South Korea I. Park★ Norway S. Pettersen United States S. Lewis New Zealand L. Ko South Korea S.Y. Ryu China S. Feng South Korea N.Y. Choi Australia K. Webb United States L. Thompson South Korea I.K. Kim
2014 South Korea I. Park New Zealand L. Ko United States S. Lewis Norway S. Pettersen China S. Feng United States M. Wie★ South Korea H.J. Kim★ South Korea S.Y. Ryu Australia K. Webb United States L. Thompson
2015 New Zealand L. Ko★ South Korea I. Park United States S. Lewis United States L. Thompson★ South Korea S.Y. Ryu China S. Feng South Korea S.Y. Kim South Korea A. Yang★ South Korea H.J. Kim South Korea I.G. Chun
2016 New Zealand L. Ko Thailand A. Jutanugarn South Korea I.G. Chun★ China S. Feng United States L. Thompson South Korea S.Y. Kim South Korea H.N. Jang★ Canada B. Henderson South Korea S.Y. Ryu South Korea S.H. Park
2017 China S. Feng★ South Korea S.H. Park★ South Korea S.Y. Ryu★ United States L. Thompson South Korea I.G. Chun Thailand A. Jutanugarn Sweden A. Nordqvist South Korea I.K. Kim New Zealand L. Ko United States C. Kerr
2018 Thailand A. Jutanugarn★ South Korea S.H. Park South Korea S.Y. Ryu South Korea I. Park United States L. Thompson Australia M. Lee Japan N. Hataoka England G. Hall★ Canada B. Henderson South Korea J.Y. Ko
2019 South Korea J.Y. Ko★ South Korea S.H. Park United States N. Korda United States D. Kang★ South Korea S.Y. Kim Japan N. Hataoka★ South Korea J.E. Lee★ Canada B. Henderson Australia M. Lee United States L. Thompson
2020 South Korea J.Y. Ko South Korea S.Y. Kim★ South Korea I. Park United States N. Korda United States D. Kang Canada B. Henderson★ Japan N. Hataoka Australia M. Lee South Korea H.J. Kim South Korea S.H. Park
2021 United States N. Korda★ South Korea J.Y. Ko New Zealand L. Ko South Korea S.Y. Kim South Korea I. Park Japan N. Hataoka Australia M. Lee Philippines Y. Saso★ South Korea H.J. Kim Canada B. Henderson
2022 New Zealand L. Ko United States N. Korda Thailand A. Thitikul★ Australia M. Lee★ South Korea J.Y. Ko United States L. Thompson Canada B. Henderson South Korea I.G. Chun South Korea H.J. Kim Japan N. Hataoka
2023 United States L. Vu★ China R. Yin★ France C. Boutier★ Australia M. Lee United States N. Korda South Korea J.Y. Ko South Korea H.J. Kim England C. Hull★ Thailand A. Thitikul China X. Lin★

Historical rankings

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Annika Sörenstam of Sweden topped the first set of rankings, which was released on Tuesday 21 February 2006. Paula Creamer (United States); Michelle Wie (United States); Yuri Fudoh (Japan); and Cristie Kerr (United States) took the other places in the top 5. The top one hundred players in the initial rankings came from the following countries:

  • 25: South Korea
  • 23: Japan
  • 21: United States
  • 6: Australia, Sweden
  • 5: United Kingdom (England 3; Scotland 2)
  • 4: Taiwan
  • 2: France
  • 1: Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Philippines

Breakdown by nationality

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A breakdown of the year-end top-100 by nationality.

Country 20
23		 20
22		 20
21		 20
20		 20
19		 20
18		 20
17		 20
16		 20
15		 20
14		 20
13		 20
12		 20
11		 20
10		 20
09		 20
08		 20
07		 20
06
 South Korea 32 31 30 35 40 39 41 40 39 39 41 38 37 36 35 31 32 26
 Japan 21 20 15 12 14 11 10 10 11 14 17 18 22 22 20 21 23 24
 United States 14 18 22 23 20 24 22 22 21 18 19 17 15 18 22 23 20 23
 Thailand 6 5 5 3 3 4 3 3 2 1 3 1 1
 Sweden 4 4 3 2 1 2 2 1 2 3 2 5 4 3 4 7 4 6
 Australia 4 3 4 4 3 3 5 3 2 3 1 3 3 5 5 4 4 4
 England 3 4 3 5 4 4 3 2 3 3 1 1 2 3 2 2 3 2
 France 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 1 1 3 2 3
 China 2 1 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1
 Spain 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 2 3 3 3 2 2
 South Africa 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
 Germany 1 1 3 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1
 Canada 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1
 New Zealand 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
 Mexico 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
 Ireland 1 1 1
 Scotland 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 3 1
 Netherlands 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
 India 1 1 1
 Switzerland 1
 Denmark 1 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 1
 Finland 1 1 1
 Slovenia 1
 Philippines 1 1 1
 Chinese Taipei 1 2 2 2 2 3 2 3 2 4 3 3 4 3 3
 Norway 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
 Paraguay 1 1 1 1 1
 Colombia 1 1 1
 Italy 1 2 1 1 1 1
 Brazil 1 1 1
 Wales 1
 Chile 1

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Women's World Rankings to begin in 2005". Golf Today. 2004. Retrieved 16 April 2007.
  2. ^ "Two modifications announced for Rolex Rankings". LPGA. 3 August 2006. Retrieved 3 August 2006.
  3. ^ "Modification Announced to Rolex Rankings Calculations". LPGA. 9 April 2007. Retrieved 16 April 2007.
  4. ^ Kelley, Brent (21 February 2006). "First Women's World Golf Rankings Stir Up Controversy". about.com. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Entry Form, 2011 Ricoh Women's British Open: Rules and Conditions" (PDF). Ladies' Golf Union. Retrieved 29 July 2011. See especially "7. Exemptions from Pre-Qualifying and Final Qualifying", pages 2–3.
  6. ^ "Solheim selection process changes". BBC Sport. 18 April 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2011.
  7. ^ "U.S. Team". Solheim Cup. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  8. ^ "32 Players, 8 Countries, 1 Crown: LPGA Unveils the International Crown" (Press release). LPGA. 24 January 2013. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  9. ^ "LPGA International Crown Celebrates "Year from Here" Event" (Press release). LPGA. 23 July 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  10. ^ a b c "Rolex Rankings". Rolex Rankings. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
  11. ^ Sörenstam, Annika (February 2009). "Annika's Blog February 2009". Archived from the original on 24 March 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2009.
  12. ^ "Ochoa removed from women's golf rankings". UPI.com. 10 May 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
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